Secrets
by Merlinfan26
Summary: Gwaine discovers that Merlin has a 2 year old son staying with his mother. He realizes the mother was a druid girl named Freya. Will he tell Arthur and the knights or keep Merlin's secret? What's Arthur's reaction when he accidentally finds out?
1. Chapter 1

**Just an idea I couldn't stop thinking about!**

**Prologue **

_The time Merlin and Freya made love was probably the best moment of Merlin's life. Never before had he felt so connected to someone. When she had fainted a few weeks later Merlin knew she needed medical help. But she also knew Gaius could not help her in Camelot. So he took her to Ealdor. Hunith was stunned to see Merlin coming to her cottage with a girl in his arms, and Gaius next to him._

_After Hunith helped Freya into a bed it was then that Gaius had announced she fainted because she was pregnant. _

_Merlin still remembered that shocked feeling, that scared feeling._

_What would happen to his child who would be half druid?_

_What would happen to the child and Freya since she had to be in hiding?_

_Hunith comforted him and said she would take the girl and the child in. She would raise her grandchild like he or she were her own. But her grandchild would know of her or his father._

_Merlin was there when the baby was born, and it was then that Freya had passed away during childbirth._

_As he held his son in his arms he knew he could never tell Arthur, or Gwen, or anyone._

_He had broken so many laws he'd be tried for treason and taken away from his child. Or his child would be taken away and sentenced to death by Uther, and that would be a hundred times worse._

_He could not risk it._

_Even when Uther was dead the lie had been told for too long for him to reveal anything._

_So he and Gaius kept the boy a secret. The boy was raised by Hunith and Merlin would visit whenever he could. He would give them whatever spare food he could snitch from the kitchen, and Gaius would bring hot meals whenever he could spare a moment._

_And so for 2 blissful years Merlin kept his boy a secret. No one knew, except for Gaius._

_All of that changed when Gwaine followed Merlin to his village and saw the little boy run into his father's arms..._

Chapter 1

Gwaine stared in shock, open mouthed, as he saw the little boy run up to Merlin.

Surely it was just a family friend, one of the villager's child.

"Daddy!" The little boy cried, and Gwaine felt even more faint.

Merlin...a father?

The idea seemed preposterous, and impossible. And yet it explained so much.

He had followed Merlin because Merlin had seemed worried and distracted when he left. Gwaine had wanted to make sure things at home were all right.

And now here he was staring at Merlin's...son?

That little boy looked so much like Merlin he had to be his.

Gwaine swallowed and continued to stare, unsure of what to do.

But he knew one thing. Merlin kept the boy a secret for a reason, and Gwaine would honor his friend's wishes.

It was obvious Merlin wasn't ready to tell anyone. So, slowly, without trying to feel hurt and left out, Gwaine left and swore this news to secrecy.

He would not tell anyone, not even Merlin, that he knew.

He would take this secret to the grave.

When he left Merlin looked up sharply and scanned the wooded area.

He could have sworn he heard footsteps.

He stayed kneeling as he hugged his son, William-Billy- and continued to scan the forest.

With a sense of protectiveness he picked Billy up and quickly walked inside, praying his secret was still safe...


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks for the reviews!**

Gwaine sat in the tavern thoughtfully.

He couldn't get the image of Merlin and that child out of his head.

He had always suspected Merlin had been hiding something, which is why it made sense that Merlin had some kind of secret family.

But at the same time...it was _Merlin_. How could he have kept THAT big of a secret from everyone? Someone in Camelot had to know, and he had an idea on who that was.

It was 2 in the morning when he knocked on Gaius's door.

Gaius opened, flabbergasted and confused.

"Gwaine? What's going on?"

Gwaine looked at him calmly.

"I know about the boy," he said quietly. "The boy living with Merlin's mother."

Gaius's face formed harsh frown lines.

"Come on in."

Gwaine obeyed.

"He called Merlin daddy?" He asked as the door was shut tight.

"Careful, the walls have ears," warned Gaius.

Gwaine frowned.

"I don't understand, why the secrecy? Why doesn't Arthur know?"

Gaius sighed.

"That, my friend, is a_ long_ story."

* * *

A few hours later Gwaine followed Merlin into the stalls where Merlin was saddling Arthur's horse.

"Merlin..." He felt unsure of how to talk to the young man, but Gaius made it clear that if Merlin found out that Gwaine knew and didn't say anything about it, or Gaius, that he would never forgive them.

"Oh, hey, Gwaine." Merlin nodded to his old friend cheerfully.

"I..." Gwain stalled and Merlin frowned.

"You what?"

"I..."

Merlin sighed.

"Look, Gwaine, I'd love to chat. But Arthur'd have my head if his precious horse wasn't ready in time."

Gwaine bit his lip. This was his way out, but he couldn't take it.

He had to tell his first real friend the truth.

"I know," he said suddenly and Merlin looked at him, confused. "I know your little secret."

Merlin's face turned from confusion to fear and horror.

"I...what secret?"

"Come on now, Merlin, mate. Don't play coy with me." Gwaine tried to control his anger and hurt. "I know about your son."

Merlin's face changed from something that looked like relief...but why relief?.. to more shock and fear.

"How?"

"I followed you," Gwaine answered calmly. "To your village."

Merlin dropped the reins, then.

"You had no right!"

"I was worried about you!" Gwaine shot back, his voice rising. "You've been so secretive lately, acting like something was crushing you. I just wanted to know you were all right!"

Merlin paced, and fumed.

"Who else knows?"

"No one!"

"Come on, Gwaine, who else did you tell?" Merlin spat.

"I talked with Gaius, but he already knew," Gwaine growled. "I did NOT tell anyone. Not any of the knights, not Gwen, and NOT Arthur. It is your secret to tell, not mine. I just wish you had trusted me enough to tell me in the first place."

Tears appeared in Merlin's eyes.

"I couldn't risk it."

"That's what Gaius said." Gwaine's voice was softer, kinder this time.

"What...what else did Gaius tell you?"

"Everything," Gwaine said bluntly. "He told me about Freya, and Uther wanting to kill her. And how your son is half druid."

Merlin's throat moved as he swallowed.

"Please, Gwaine...I...I need you to continue to keep this a secret..."

"Of course," Gwaine answered calmly. "You can trust me, Merlin. I wish you believed that before."

"I didn't even tell Gwen," said Merlin miserably. "And she wouldn't hurt a fly. It's not...it was never about you and your word, Gwaine. It was...this place and the law...and Uther...and fear..."

"I understand," Gwaine sighed.

"I have to do whatever I can to protect my son," Merlin pleaded. "When Uther was alive I feared he would have had William executed."

Gwaine looked disgusted, and then frowned.

"William...?"

"I named him after my best childhood friend who died defending our village."

Gwaine nodded.

"Merlin, I had no idea such fears haunted you, mate," he added, almost miserably.

Merlin wiped tears away with his shirt.

"Gwaine, I'm sorry...for jumping on you like that...it's just..."

"You were being a father, I understand."

"But it's more than that. When Freya died...I felt like I had failed to protect her. I promised her I would, and she died giving childbirth. My last words to her was promising her that I would protect her child. She begged me to as she laid there dying.."

With that Merlin's body shook with sobs and he was unable to continue as the load of grief and stress crushed him.

Gwaine, not being used to dealing with emotions, grabbed Merlin into a hug.

And finally, for the first time since Freya's death, Merlin was able to let it all go.

Finally, he was able to breathe.

**I hope Gwaine was in character! **


End file.
